Valentine's Day
by RinoaTifa
Summary: ReTi fic. When Reno's car brakes down on the most romantic day of the year, he is forced to set up refuge at the nearest place that just happens to be owned by everyone's favourite bar tender.
1. Chapter 1

Valentine's Day

"Damn it!" Reno cursed, pounding the dashboard in frustration. This was just so typical. You pay this much for such a beautiful car – BMW M3 in midnight blue with sequential semi-automatic gear box, traction control and of course swish black leather seats - and then the second you get it out on the road it breaks down.

Now he was stranded here, in Neibleheim of all places, with no form of transport and nowhere to stay. It was meant to have been quick and easy: Get in, get the files, get back out again. Why did things never turn out according to plan?

Reno sighed and flipped out his cellular, again. No reception, again. He swore and tucked it back into his shirt pocket, wondering what the hell he was going to do now.

Well, he reasoned, no point in just staying in the car all night. Maybe he could find somewhere nearby to stay.

Tifa reached for another glass, wiping it down with a few deft flicks of her washcloth. She was exhausted; the bar had been thriving earlier and she'd been glad no end when closing time had finally arrived. And it wasn't just because of the rush.

The bar had, of course, been filled with couples tonight.

She sighed and put the glass down, leaning her hands on the bar counter. Quiet sobs racked her shoulders. Two years. It'd been over two years now since the group had separated, each moving on with their own lives.

Barret and Marlene had gone back to Midgar in an attempt to rebuild all that was broken. They'd asked her to go with them but Tifa found the memories too fresh and too painful. Vincent had gone on a "journey of self-discovery" as he'd put it. Yuffie had said this was just a fancy way of him saying, "anywhere you lot aren't." Yuffie herself had gone back to Wutai and Cid was, of course, with Shera.

And Cloud.

What had happened to Cloud? At first he had come back with her to Nebleheim, started up the new Seventh Heaven with her. They'd even started to date.

She'd thought he was happy.

Then, one morning, she'd just woken up and instead of him lying beside her sat a note. A note which simply said "goodbye." The rest of that day Tifa had spent crying, alone.

That seemed to be the story of her life.

Now, Tifa felt the same sense of loneliness she had felt then and the tears brought no relief to the void that threatened to consume her.

Tifa started as a sudden rapping on the bar's door brought her crashing back to reality. She quickly wiped the tears away and took a shaky breath, steadying herself. "We're closed," she called.

The banging continued.

Tifa turned apprehensively. It was probably just one of her regulars so out of it they thought that closing time wasn't for another five hours. Probably. Still, no harm in being cautious. "I said we're closed!"

"Tifa …" called an oddly familiar voice through the heavy oak.

Tifa froze. Could it be? On today, of all days, could he have finally come to his senses? She swallowed, a lump having formed in her throat and wiped her eyes again. If it was Cloud, he sure as hell had a lot of explaining to do.

After a second's longer hesitation, Tifa moved towards the door, weaving between various bar stools and upturned chairs. Her trembling fingers fumbled with the doors various locks and bolts. She heaved back the door and-

"Reno!" cried Tifa in astonishment. The shock of red hair and arrogant glint in his aquamarine eyes made it obvious who it was, but him actually being here seemed so unlikely she needed the confirmation.

"No need to look so pleased to see me," Reno replied, eyebrows raised. The look on Tifa's face was one of shock, obviously, and deep sadness.

Tifa's heart fell. It'd been stupid to think it was Cloud and she'd known that but it didn't seem to make the blow any easier. To her supreme annoyance and embarrassment, she felt tears well up in her eyes once more.

"You… okay?" asked Reno, feeling more than a little uncomfortable.

Tifa nodded, moving quickly towards the counter, wiping her eyes furiously as she went. No way was she about to cry in front of Reno, of all people.

Reno watched her go and looked around the bar in an effort to ease the tension. "The place looks nice," he commented, sitting down on a bar stool nearby. He looked around at all the red and pink accessories recently added. "Appropriate."

Tifa pulled a bottle of vodka and two shot glasses from under the counter. "Cut the bullshit Reno and just tell me what the hell you're doing here."

Reno shrugged. "Fair enough. My car broke down back there. I don't have anywhere else to go."

Tifa stared at him quizzically, trying to work out whether she could trust the man who had tried to kill her so many times. Probably not, but his story seemed plausible enough. Besides, what could he possibly want with her?

"Want a drink?" she asked eventually.

"Thought you'd never ask," said Reno, grinning.

She pulled out the cork and poured them both a shot of the vodka. Reno accepted the glass she offered gratefully. He hadn't had a drink in hours.

He downed the shot then caught Tifa looked at him strangely out of the corner of his eye. "What?" he asked bluntly.

"Do you even know how many people you killed?" said Tifa softly, distaste evident in her tone.

Reno rolled his eyes. "Not this again."

"Yes, this again!" she snapped angrily. "How can you not even care? All those lives gone – just like that! Have you no heart, no conscience?"

"I doubt it," said Reno quietly.

"Not at all?" persisted Tifa. "No sense of guilt? No little voice telling you that what you're doing is wrong?"

"Sometimes. But I tend to drown it out with a little thing called alcohol."

Reno stopped. He'd never told anyone that before. He stared up into Tifa's deep, dark eyes and felt his pulse quicken. He swallowed.

They sat in silence for a while, occasionally asking one another to pass the vodka bottle. Finally, Reno spoke.

"So what happened to Pretty Boy?"

"Pretty Boy?" said Tifa blankly. "Oh, you mean Cloud…"

"Tifa? You okay?"

Tifa began to briskly scrub at an imaginary stain on the counter, keeping her face hidden with a thick curtain of chestnut hair. "It didn't work out."

"I'm sorry."

Tifa smiled weakly. "No you're not."

"No, honestly I am. Splitting up is never easy."

Tifa stared at him for a moment, surprised at how profound and sensitive Reno was capable of being. Then-

"Plus, now I owe Rude fifty gil."

It took Tifa a second to process this. "Wait… So you're saying that you and Rude BET on whether or not Cloud and I could make it work!"

"Not just you and Cloud," said Reno hurriedly. "Everyone… Rude bet twenty gil that the Vampire dude and the ninja chick'd get it on which they haven't. And that the Ancient would start something up with Cloud but I said that'd never happen as he was totally into you-"

Reno stopped, realising that he was just making things worse. "I'll just pop off into the grave I just dug for myself, shall I?"

Tifa smiled despite herself. "First of all, gambling is a crude and expensive habit. Second, my friends do have names – Vincent, Yuffie and Aeris. Third… Vincent and Yuffie? What the hell was Rude thinking?"

Reno, who'd been hanging his head in mock shame, looked up at her and grinned again. "Rude never was a smart gambler."

After that, the tension was broken and as they lapsed into another moment of reflection, there was no sense of awkwardness or wariness. It was the silence of friends, friends who knew each other well and didn't need words to express how much they were enjoying each others company.

A thought occurred to Tifa. "So, what've you been up to these past few years? Besides betting on my personnel life, that is. Still working for the most evil forces on the Planet?"

"I'd love to tell you, Tife, honestly I would," Reno looked up at her in mock seriousness. "But if I did I'd have to kill you."

Tifa laughed. "Who the hell do you think you are, Bruce bloody Willis? Fine, okay. Well, what about Rude and Elena? Can you tell me about them?"

"'Fraid not," grinned Reno and he winked at her.

Tifa shook her head, tipping the last of the vodka into her shot glass. As she knocked it back, Tifa was uncomfortably aware of Reno's eyes upon her. She put the glass down and stared at him quizzically.

"You're too good for him, you know that?" he said softly.

His words caught her off guard, not to mention the gentle, compassionate tone he'd used the likes of which she'd never heard in his voice.

"Cloud, I mean," Reno said, getting up from his stool and walking over to her. "You're way too good for him."

"Reno…" said Tifa then stopped. How did she plan to answer him? Some bland excuse about how she was completely over Cloud and couldn't care less whether she was good enough for him or not? Or defend Cloud's honour, telling Reno how brilliant a boyfriend he'd been and how upset they'd both been when it hadn't worked out? Both were total lies, and somehow lying to Reno just didn't… _feel_ right.

"You deserve someone better," continued Reno, before she had a chance to reply.

"What, like you?" choked Tifa, the lump lodging itself once more in her throat. "Someone who kills people for a living and spends their recreational time in bars or with hookers?"

She stormed out from behind the bar, these new feelings frightening and confusing her, and strode straight past Reno to the door, not daring to look him in the face. She wrenched the door open. "I think you should leave."

Reno shook his head. "I don't want to leave."

"This isn't a game, Reno!"

"I never said it was."

She made to the bar again but this time Reno grabbed her arm. His grip was strong and firm but not so much that it hurt her. She stared down at her arm, a tingling feeling spreading through her body. She took a deep breath.

"Listen, Reno-"

"No, Tifa, you listen," said Reno, his voice assuming the gentle tone once more. "Today is the most romantic day of the year and today everyone must have some sort of romantic encounter. It's, like, a law."

He pulled her a little closer and Tifa was too shocked to protest. With his other hand, Reno, stroked a stray lock of hair from her beautiful face. She shivered, the contact alien to her for so long.

"So," Reno said, now using the hand not gripping her arm to lift her head up gently, so that her deep, brown eyes stared into his own aquamarine ones. "How about you have yours with the person you least expect?"

And then, he leant forwards, gently brushing his lips against her own. For a second Tifa pulled back but then she surrendered to the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her body against his. She felt his arms twist around her waist, pulling her closer still. It was the best feeling she had experienced in so long now and it occurred to her now, for the first time, that Reno was right. She did deserve better than Cloud. He'd neglected her, ignored her and abandoned her and yet still she'd remained devoted to him.

Of course, this didn't mean that Reno was "the one," the idea of having any romantic involvement with him was strange enough as it was. But for now, it'd do.

She smiled inwardly to herself. It would more than do.

For quite possibly the first time in his life, Reno got "that" feeling. As he kissed Tifa, he knew that this was a turning point in his life. Behind his eyes, he saw fireworks, starlight, rose petals the whole romantic shebang. And he'd thought all that stuff was made up by Disney to try and sell more sappy movies.

He pulled her closer and caught the sweet aroma of lavender and various other unidentifiable flowers around her. It was beautiful. She was beautiful. Even he felt beautiful!

Eventually, they pulled away, for air more than anything else. Tifa rested her head on his shoulder, feeling the warmth of his body wash over her, melting the cold of her heart. Reno ran his fingers through her shiny, dark hair, amazed at how soft and supple it was.

"Tifa…" he whispered.

She nuzzled further into his chest but nodded to show that she was listening.

Reno looked around the deserted bar, taking in the scented pink candles placed in the centre of each table, petals strewn haphazardly around them. Paper hearts in various shades of pink and red and yellow hung from the ceiling and Reno smiled as he caught sight of the banner spanning the wall behind the bar's counter. He quoted it now:

"Happy Valentine's Day."


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: I finally caved to popular demand and have officially changed this from a one-shot to a multi-chaptered fanfiction. I warn you now, though, even then it'll only be three or four chapters long. Still, this is for my fans and general ReTi fans – remember to keep the love alive, people!

Chapter Two

"Happy Valentine's day, Princess," Reno whispered into her ear as he wrapped her arms around her waist from behind and held her close. She leant willing into his sturdy frame, welcoming the embrace.

"And happy one year anniversary," she reminded him, turning round to face Reno and smiling warmly.

"How could I possible forget with all of those notes you've been leaving me."

"Notes?" said Tifa innocently but her grin told a different story. "I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about."

"Liar," mumbled Reno, moving over to the fridge and pulling it open. He retrieved a carton of milk and drank deeply from it before continuing. "Or did that little yellow note saying 'Remember – buy Tifa anniversary present or she will be pissed' just fall into my bag after a friendly neighbourhood mouse wrote it?"

"Don't drink from the carton – it's gross," Tifa chided, cuffing him lightly around the head and moving to the toaster, pulling out two slices of bread and beginning to spread them thickly with jam. "And so what if I did give a little bit of gentle guidance? Did it work?"

"You'll have to wait till tonight and see. Technically we didn't start dating until the evening so I'm afraid I can't actually give you your present – if I've got you one, that is – before then."

Tifa shook her head lightly. "All right but it better be good Mister. And _not_ another one of your coupons for a night of Reno lovin', as you call it."

"Fine. But you have to admit, it's a good idea." Reno smiled at her again before catching sight of the wall clock. The hands – shaped like two beer bottles, as it was taken from Tifa's old bar – were pointed to quarter to eleven. "Right, we'd better open up for the day. The restaurant's fully booked for tonight and there's plenty of reservations already been made for lunch not to mention the few who always turn up anyway. Business is booming, Princess, and it's all thanks to you."

He moved round to kiss her again and she responded with giving him a quick peck and that irresistible smile. "I'd better go have a shower then."

"You know, I could actually use one too. And there's still a little time before we have to officially open and it'd be a waste of water for me to have one afterwards –"

"Nice try, Reno," said Tifa, pulling off her shirt and moving towards the bathroom. "But you're not coming in with me. We'll save that sort of thing for Valentine's day _night_, yes?"

"Fine," mumbled Reno, grabbing a fresh shirt off the ironing board and pulling it on. "But it's a good thing I love you, or I'd be feeling a little unwanted."

"I love you too," called Tifa over the noise of the shower.

Tifa had to admit; the relationship had gone far further than she had ever anticipated. It had been rough, especially at the start, and they'd had their offs and ons but they had now officially almost lasted a year together and that was a real achievement especially as the end was nowhere in sight. If anything, their relationship had grown stronger with time.

Yes, thought Tifa, as she soaped herself in the shower, the beginning had indeed been rocky. Despite her constant protests to the contrary, she just had not been over Cloud and Reno had had a real problem with that. It wasn't her feelings themselves that he'd had a problem with – that, he'd said, he could understand – it was her denial of them that had annoyed him. And then of course she'd had her own doubts. Reno was a notorious flirt and even she couldn't have stopped the pangs of suspicion that plagued her mind.

Eventually, it all came down to her own insecurities. And it had actually taken Reno himself to get her to realise that.

"What is it you're so afraid of?" He'd snapped at her, after a particularly unpleasant dinner about three weeks into their relationship when she had accused him of flirting with the waitress fourteen times and eyeing up the woman at the bar with no underwear on five times. "What, do you think I'm going to just get up and leave you like Pretty Boy did? Is that it?"

Tifa had looked down at her food, too shocked to really say anything. To her surprise, she had felt her eyes well up with tears. Without even trying, Reno had just hit the nail right on the head. Still after all this time, Cloud had been on her mind.

"That is it," she had heard Reno mumble softly to himself and then she'd felt the warmth of his hand gripping hers, strong and reassuring. "Listen to me, Tifa – that is _not_ going to happen, okay?"

"You don't know that!" she'd wailed and the tears had finally fallen, coursing down her cheeks.

"Yes, I do. Even if some day, for some reason, this relationship doesn't work out and has to end, I will not just clear off in the night leaving nothing but a note like he did. Never."

The sincerity in Reno's voice then and the warmth in his eyes had been the only thing that had kept her from running away herself. Tifa massaged the shampoo into her hair and thought about how much she and Reno had become dependent on one another, especially at certain times when without each others support they could well have ended up in their own deep, brooding holes from which they'd never have emerged.

Like when Reno had been fired. Tifa was still not entirely sure what Reno's job had been – even now he refused point blank to tell her – but it had seriously shaken him up when they'd finally let him go. Nearly two months into their relationship it had happened and Tifa had known instantly that something was wrong when he hadn't called her. She'd marched straight round to the flat he was renting in Neibleheim and had found him unconscious on the floor after an even heavier than usual night's drinking.

By this time, Tifa had gotten used to Reno's regular alcohol intake and due to her gentle persuasion he'd even cut down a little so she'd known this wasn't just a fun night out gone overboard thing, it was serious.

It had taken him nearly a full day to sober up again and when he was awake he was irritable and angry. Once he'd raised his fist to Tifa and she would have left right then and there if he hadn't fallen to his knees right then, practically in tears, begging her forgiveness. Her suspicions were one hundred percent confirmed: something terrible had happened.

Even then it had taken a while to get it out of him. Reno was certainly stubborn when he wanted to be, she'd give him that. But eventually he told her.

"I got a call the day before last," Reno had said shakily, his eyes blood-shot from the night before. "I got fired, Tife. I've never been fired before!"

"Well, that's not so bad. It happens to everybody at some point, Reno."

"That's not the point! The point is now I have nothing to do. This is all I've done for my entire working life – there's nothing else I'm good at. How will I be able to afford… anything?"

"You'll land on your feet. You always do," she'd said gently, putting her arm around him. "And you can stay with me – then you won't have to pay for the flat and I have plenty of money now that the bar's going to so well."

There had been a long pause and when Reno finally spoke, his tone was serious and his gaze never left the floor. "Tifa… I've done a lot of terrible things in the past. In fact, not just the past; some of my jobs have been quite recent. You deserve someone so much better than me, someone who can give you all of the things you deserve. I was always sure that was me because at least I could I give you one of those two things but now I can't even do that. You don't even know me that well, Tifa."

"I don't know you that well?" said Tifa and much to Reno's amazement she'd laughed and hugged him close before continuing. "Reno, I doubt that there's a lot of people out there who know you as well as I do. I knew to come round here looking for you when you didn't call me the other night. And do you know how?"

"Because you're too nosy to mind your own business?" he'd joked feebly.

"No. Because every other night since we began dating you've sent me some sort of message at exactly quarter past midnight because that's the time when we got together. You thought I didn't notice but whether it was e-mail, a phone call a text message or even a visit in person, I did. I always did. And I got in because I knew that you always keep your spare key under the rose bush to the right because you say that most hit-men are left handed and so wouldn't think to look under the right."

"Yeah, but that's just something stupid I made up…" Reno mumbled.

"I remembered it, though. Whether you like it or not, Reno, I am now a part of your life. Remember that, and nothing else really matters because no matter what happens you've always got someone there to face the rough times with and that's a wonderful thing, Reno, that few people get. So don't you dare waste it. Don't you dare."

She'd left then and the next day he'd shown up at the bar as if nothing had happened except that his bags were in tow. He'd looked so embarrassed at asking to stay with her but Tifa'd been happy to let him in and he'd lived with her even since.

Tifa grabbed a towel from the rack and turned off the shower before stepping out, dripping, and wrapping the towel around her. She'd been the strong one then but even she had had difficulty coping when the inevitable happened: When one of her friends found out about her relationship with the ex-Turk.

It had happened over five months in, when Barret had needed to go away for a while for his own personal reasons and left Tifa in charge of Marlene. He had been dropping the little girl off round at Tifa's Seventh Heaven bar when Reno had suddenly appeared from the back room shirtless, crushing any belief of Barret's that he may have just been dropping in for a quick drink.

If Tifa hadn't stopped her old friend, he would of left there and then taking Marlene with him. She'd caught up with Barret – who walked surprisingly quickly – nearly half way down the street.

"Look," she'd protested. "Reno's not actually a bad guy. He –"

"Not a bad guy?" Barret had cried angrily. "Yo, Tifa, d'ya even remember Reno? D'ya even remember wha' he tried t' do to us, what he tried t' do to _Aeris_?"

"Yes, I know, but –"

"No, you don't!" The look Barret had given her then was one she'd never forget: one of pure disgust and horror, as if he couldn't quite believe that it was true. "All those people, Tifa. All those people who are dead because of HIM! And ya know that, don't pretend you don't, but ya'd rather pretend it didn't happen, tha' he's actually a 'good guy' and tha' people can change. Well, you keep on believing that if ya must Tifa but it's not exactly a policy that has worked well for you, is it? It didn' work with Cloud and it won' work here!"

At that moment, Barret had realised that he'd gone too far but he was too stubborn to apologise and Tifa was too stubborn to have accepted it if he had. Due to the commotion, Reno himself had come outside, still shirtless, and now he stepped forward, finding the words that Tifa could not.

"Leave," he'd said firmly to Barret, his eyes hard and strong. "Leave now. She doesn't want you here and neither do I. Okay, I can understand that this is a bit of a shock for you-"

"Way to understate things, Turk," muttered Barret darkly.

"Whatever. I understand that. What I don't understand is why you're punishing her for it. You crossed the line just then with that comment about Cloud and you know it. And you may not like Tifa's choice in friend or partner but that doesn't give you the right to dictate to her who she should be with, agreed?"

"If you think that this little speech'll change my mind about you, Turk, you are mistak-" Barret roared.

"No, I don't," said Reno calmly. He hadn't raised his voice once which Tifa was grateful for – the last thing they'd wanted was half the street listening in. "Frankly, I couldn't care less what you or anyone else thinks about me. But I'm sure you can't blame me for wanting to stand up for the woman I love when I feel she's being wronged."

There was a moment's silence.

"It's really… that serious, huh?" said Barret eventually, his tone suddenly very different.

"It really is," said Tifa, stepping forwards as she found her voice at last. "We love each other, Barret, and I'm sorry I never told you before it's just that I was afraid that you'd react… Well, exactly as you have. And then you asked me to look after Marlene for the week and I couldn't refuse. I'm sorry."

To everyone's surprise, probably himself as much as anyone else's, Barret had left Marlene with them for the week and even muttered a quick "thanks," to Reno when he'd returned. Reno had even grown quite fond of the little girl.

Tifa towelled herself down and wrapped her long hair up into the towel to dry. Her good mood darkened slightly as she remembered the last words Barret had said to her before he'd left. While Reno had been saying goodbye to Marlene and helping her collect her things, Barret had taken Tifa to one side.

"Lis'en, I can jus' about accept you and the Turk but I've gotta ask. Tifa, if Cloud came back tomorrow and asked you to choose, wha' would ya do?"

Tifa had told him not to be silly; Cloud wasn't coming back and even if he was she doubted he'd asked her anything like that. But he knew that she was trying to avoid answering. The truth was she hadn't a clue what she would do, not even now on she and Reno's first ever anniversary.

Tifa shook her head, clearing her mind of these thoughts and stepped through to the bedroom to find some clothes.

It was closing time at the Seventh Heaven bar and restaurant. Tifa mopped up the last wine spill and tipped the last waitress before latching the door closed for the evening. Usually she would have locked it up tighter but Reno had mysteriously left earlier that evening and she knew that it had to have something to do with her present that she hadn't yet received.

Tifa smiled to herself as she thought through all of the possibilities of what Reno had bought her. She'd already given him a Valentine's Day and anniversary present – a photo album containing photos of them together as well as a few at the end of Tifa on her own for his own personal pleasure. But what had Reno got her? She honestly had no idea. He'd dropped no hints and refused to budge no matter how much she pestered him with questions.

She tucked her washcloth into her belt and looked around the Seventh Heaven, thinking about how much it had changed in the last year. With Reno's encouragement, she had extended her beloved bar by adding a family restaurant to one area and business truly was booming. On days like tonight, it was full to bursting with couples as well as families and she'd had to hire extra help to cope with it all. Reno also worked behind the bar some nights and even co-owned it with her.

A sudden harsh banging on the door broke her revere, and she turned to it smiling to herself. _Here it comes_, she thought and even felt a tingle of excitement. Typical of Reno – starting his surprise by reliving the moment they had met each other again. She smoothed down her hair, lit a candle at the only table that still had chairs around it as opposed to on it and picked up one of the two glasses of wine she'd set out.

Tifa rushed forwards as the banging began again. It was raining tonight; no wonder Reno wanted to be let in. "Okay, okay, I'm coming," she laughed, pulling the door open.

The laughter died in her throat. Her face blanched. The wine glass fell from her hand and smashed on the floor but she didn't even notice.

Standing in the doorway was a face so familiar she would have been able to draw it blindfolded. He looked up at her with his amazing, mako-blue eyes and smiled weakly. His blonde hair was drenched, as were his clothes but still he smiled at her.

"Tifa…" said Cloud quietly.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Well, here it comes: The tearjerker chapter. In fact, it upset me so much just to write it at parts that there may be several spelling and grammatical errors at certain points since I was so emotional so I apologise in advance. This is a very talkie chapter but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. So, here it is: The third and final chapter. Enjoy and please leave a review, reading them makes me so very happy!

Chapter Three

"No," whispered Tifa. "No, it can't be. You… You… Cloud-"

"Yes, Tifa, it's me. And – I don't know what to say. What I did to you was – was terrible but you have to believe me when I say that these past few years I've been punishing myself more than anyone else ever could. Maybe that was part of the problem."

Cloud shook his head, as if attempting to clear his mind of the unpleasant thoughts that resided there. "Anyway, I'm sorry and I don't expect you to leap into my arms with the past forgotten but I am asking you to listen to me and let me explain my actions for myself and - Tifa? Are you listening to me?"

Tifa sat down heavily. The shock she felt right now was so immense and overwhelming she could barely comprehend a word Cloud was saying. All she could think was: How? How, after all of these years could he just be back so suddenly, just like that? She didn't dare think of the future and what may be about to happen. All she could think of was what had been and how on earth they could go back to how they were. It didn't seem possible. None of this seemed possible.

It took her a moment to realise that Cloud was looking for an answer. Tifa glanced up at him and saw the slightly confused, worried expression on his face that she'd seen so many times before.

"Yes," she finally mumbled. "Yes, I'm listening. This is all just a bit… sudden, is all."

"All right. That's understandable," Cloud said, seemingly more to himself than to Tifa and sank slowly into the chair next to her. "Let's take things nice and slow then. Ask me whatever you want and I'll try to answer as best I can."

The question leapt to Tifa's throat before she could prevent it but she bit it back. It was too soon to ask that, no matter how much she wanted to. Cloud was right; it was best to take things slow to begin with. "Wh-where have you been?"

Cloud stared vacantly ahead and to Tifa he looked like someone who had been on a journey of self-discovery and had perhaps not found that the answers he had found were to his liking. "Everywhere. Nowhere."

"Cloud, you're not making any sense."

"I know," he said quietly, blinking hard and shaking his head slightly. "It doesn't make sense to me either. I know generally whereabouts I've been but if you asked me to tell you exactly what I've been doing… I just don't know. It's like a few years of my life have been taken and blurred so much – like an old movie that you can barely remember since it's so long since you last saw it. I'm sorry, Tifa, but that's the best way for me to describe it."

Tifa looked up and saw the fearful, almost haunted look in her friend's eyes. She knew how painful his past was and she could understand that it was difficult for him to cope with but that simply didn't seem like a good enough excuse. She had always stood by Cloud and been more than willing to help him, to support him. He'd been the one that had left her and that was a pain she'd never forgotten.

She had never been a selfish or self-obsessed person, but Tifa had also been through her fair share of hard and difficult times and yet she'd never fallen the way Cloud had. Tifa had always been a doer and instead of feeling sorry for herself and withdrawing into her own little world, she'd done things. Even after Cloud, her last hope at the time, had left her she'd kept on living her life and eventually things had turned out well for her. She had a home that she loved, her own business that was doing better than she could have ever anticipated and Reno, her boyfriend who loved her more than anything.

Reno…

A new thought hit her now: What if he came back right now? What would he do, what would he say about the sudden reappearance of her ex-boyfriend? And how would Cloud himself react?

Tifa stood up suddenly, these new thoughts overriding her want for answers. And that was the thing that surprised her most because now, after all this time of waiting and hoping, she didn't even want to hear Cloud's excuses, especially as she had the growing suspicion that his answers wouldn't be the ones she wanted to here.

Shocked by her reaction, Cloud also stood. "Tifa, what's wrong?"

"You have to leave, Cloud. You have to leave now." Tifa reached inside her pocket and opened her purse before stuffing a few gil into Cloud's open palm. "Please, take this. It's enough for you to stay in a hotel for the night and then in the morning you can come back and we'll be able to discuss this properly."

"Why can't we talk about it now?" asked Cloud slowly, his eyes finally taking in the other glass of wine on the table and the lit candles.

"Well, you kept me waiting for over a year for you, Cloud, I think you can last a few hours!" Tifa snapped. She took a deep breath and composed herself before looking levelly at Cloud again. "I'm sorry but this is a little difficult to digest right now. I'm tired; it's been a busy day. In the morning I'll have been able to work things out a little better and-"

"There's someone else, isn't there?" Cloud said in barely more than a whisper. He looked up at Tifa, a deep sadness in his eyes and saw the truth in her brown ones before the words even left her mouth.

"Yes… Yes there is. But you have to understand Cloud I've been alone for so long. Did you really expect me to wait forever? For all I knew you weren't even coming back!" Tears spilled down her cheeks and Cloud's face distorted and changed, refracting into a thousand different Clouds, their features blurry and barely distinguishable.

_This is when I usually wake up,_ she thought sadly and then –

"Princess? Princess, you there? How come the door's open?" called an all too familiar voice. Tifa swallowed and held her breath as Reno came sauntering through the door, exactly how she'd feared he would.

It took precious few seconds for the smile to slowly slip off Reno's face as his eyes met Cloud's, and for the already palpable tension to grow ten times more so.

"What is he doing here?" asked Reno levelly and Tifa knew that the ex-Turk was putting all of his skills of self-constraint to use. She could practically feel the hatred sparking between the two of them in mighty waves and her stomach lurched as the two men she loved most in the world tried to stare each other out.

The silence seemed to stretch for an eternity until eventually Cloud spoke.

"No," he whispered and finally turned away from Reno to stare at Tifa again with his mako eyes. "No, not him. Anyone but him. How could you possibly-? I mean, Tifa, he's a killer!"

"At least I'm not the kind of sad, cowardly loser who clears off in the middle of the night leaving nothing but a note," replied Reno calmly.

"Oh, really? Because I'm sure your one-night stands think different. Oh, no, wait – you didn't even leave _them_ a note. You've stopped having them, though, haven't you? An honourable man like you wouldn't even consider cheating on someone who's so trusting they wouldn't so much as dream of you betraying them," snarled Cloud angrily.

"It's not like that, Cloud!" said Tifa, feeling completely helpless as all hell threatened to let loose in her bar. "Reno, please. Go upstairs. I'll sort this out – and careful of the broken glass on the floor as you go."

Reno opened his mouth as if to protest but then he closed it again resolutely and, giving Cloud one last angry glance, he stormed across the bar and into the storeroom that led to their upstairs apartment. The door slammed behind him and Cloud and Tifa were left alone once more only now Cloud's expression had changed. Now it reminded her uncomfortably of Barret's when he had first discovered her relationship with the ex-Turk, only a thousand times worse.

No longer able to stand the silence, Tifa said the first thing that came to her head: "Say something, Cloud."

"What is there to say?" said Cloud quietly, his gaze now fixed firmly on the floor.

"Fine. I gave you you're chance to say what you thought and you passed it up. Now I'm going to talk, Cloud, and you are going to listen."

Tifa took a deep breath and found that this wasn't going to be as difficult as she'd expected it to be. All she had to do was put the feelings in her heart into words. What else could she do?

"When you left me," she began quietly and then continued hurriedly as she saw Cloud about to interrupt, "And no, Cloud, I don't want to know why you left. For all I know, you could have a perfectly valid, understandable reason for what you did but frankly I don't want to here it. What you've done, you've done and that's that. I was alone for a long time when you left and I guess I thought that maybe – maybe I would never be happy ever again."

Tifa moved over to the window and leaned against the wall, staring out at the rain pounding down upon the glass pane. She gave a quiet laugh. "Isn't it funny how we have a habit of finding happiness when we least expect it, and where? When Reno turned up here… I guess it actually reminded me a little of when you showed up again, you know, before the whole Meteor business. You'd made me feel good about myself and that's what Reno did for me. Only, my feelings towards you were pretty much one sided – don't deny it. You know that it's true. Even when we were together at the end of it all I sometimes wondered if that was what you really wanted… But that doesn't matter anymore.

"But Reno – he felt about me how I felt about him. And I'm not going to lie to you; he hasn't changed into this perfect boyfriend who's always there when he says he will be, and always remembers your birthday and other special occasions but neither were you, Cloud. And I love Reno and I want to make it work with him so much that I'm even giving up you and me having another shot at it. Doesn't that tell you something Cloud? Let's face it; we've had our fair share of chances and we blew it. That's life. Our ship has sailed and I'm not going to risk my new relationship on trying to revive an old one that was dead far before it was over. I'm sorry, Cloud but that's the truth."

As Tifa spoke, Cloud sank into the chair again, his head in his hands. He looked up at Tifa when she had done and even surprised himself by managing a wan smile. "If he ever hurts you, Tifa-"

"He won't," she assured Cloud gently, glad that he was taking it so well.

Cloud nodded and his eyes seemed to glaze over again. Tifa tried to work out what he was thinking; maybe he was wondering what to do next, or maybe he was regretting past mistakes. Maybe it was something completely different.

She sat down delicately in the chair opposite Cloud and smiled sadly, the flickering lights of the candle reflected in her eyes. "There's just one thing that I have to know, Cloud. Why did you come back today?"

"Because I got back today," said Cloud in puzzlement.

"Okay but why today in particular. Why Valentine's Day?"

Cloud leaned back, the faintest trace of a smile on his lips. "I honestly had no idea that was what today was…"

To his surprise, Tifa actually laughed. "Same Cloud. Oblivious to the last."

She was quiet again for a while, until another thought occurred to her. "You know," she mumbled softly, pulling Cloud out of his own revere. "I never liked to admit it to myself at the time but near the end things did get quite rocky, didn't they?"

"We argued constantly," agreed Cloud with a small grin. "Clash of personalities, I suppose. And I guess I was a little preoccupied with my own thoughts."

Tifa leaned forwards across the table, her eyebrows raised. "You_ guess_ that you were a little preoccupied?"

Cloud gave a shrug of acceptance. She sat back again; relaxing slightly and her eyes took on a sad, dreamy quality. "Well, I had my own insecurities too. All the time we were together, I… Oh, I don't know. It was just that every time when you touched my arm I would wonder why you didn't kiss me and then when you kissed me, I'd always wonder whether you really wanted to or not… And I hated myself for feeling that way and that meant that sometimes I hated you too. I'd rather love you and have you as a friend, Cloud, than risk all that on a relationship that could well have been doomed from the start and end up hating you."

Cloud stood up and moved to behind Tifa, rubbing her shoulders comfortingly. "I know," he murmured and she could hear the regret in his voice. He too despaired over the breakdown of their relationship and just knowing that made Tifa feel better than any explanation he could have given her. She leant into his hands, feeling their comforting warmth.

There was a long pause until Cloud finally whispered, "What do you want me to do, Tifa?"

Tifa took a deep breath and turned around in her chair to face Cloud. "I want you to leave. And I want you to go somewhere far from here – away from sadness, regret, love and all of those other things that mess people up. But I also want you to put the past behind you once and for all, let it go and get on with your life. And then, with time, the old wounds will begin to heal and you'll be able to find happiness with someone too. Because everybody heals with time and with healing comes the ability to love again, an ability that is so easily lost and yet so difficult to regain afterwards. We all need love, Cloud, and we all deserve it even those of us who have been deprived it for so very long."

"I don't know if I can quite believe that's true Tifa," said Cloud quietly but his voice remained steady. Gently, he squeezed her shoulders. Then, he moved resignedly away towards the door while speaking over his shoulder, "I'll come back again one day soon, I promise, to see you properly and see how you're doing."

Tifa looked down sadly and when she looked up at Cloud again there were tears in her eyes. "I don't think you will, Cloud."

Another slow, sad nod of acceptance, and then Cloud pulled on the doors handle and was about to move through the door when he turned back again and smiled miserably at her through his own tears. "I loved you Tifa. I loved you so very much."

"I know and I loved you too. And who knows, given the right circumstances maybe it even could have worked between us?"

"I'd like to think that. Goodbye Tifa," said Cloud.

"Goodbye, Cloud," whispered Tifa and with that he closed the door of Seventh Heaven and left her on her own to weep.

"What are you doing?" whispered a voice from the doorway.

Reno turned from his suitcase to see Tifa leaning against the wooden door. She looked older somehow and tired, so very tired. He felt his heart lurch and wanted so badly to run to her and hold her in his arms but now that Pretty Boy was back in the picture…

"I'm leaving," he said shortly, turning his back on her as he packed another shirt.

"Don't go," he heard her voice break and could imagine the tears rolling down her face. "Please, Reno, please don't go! I couldn't bear it, not now."

"Not now? I'd have thought that once Strife was back you'd want me to leave more than ever. I'm only pre-empting the inevitable so don't try and spare my feelings. I'm a Turk, remember, we don't feel anything. In fact, I'm not even sure I did ever love you!"

"Don't say that!" The pain in Tifa's voice made him want so badly to touch her soft skin again, hold her and love her and comfort her.

Reno slumped over his suitcase and the tears he had been willing away began to pour freely. He tried to hide them from her but when it became clear that he couldn't, he turned to face his long-term girlfriend and cried, "I gave you my heart, Tifa! I gave you my everything and now that _he's_ back you're just going to leave me. Okay, I admit it, I lied. I loved you, the second I walked in here a year ago I fell in love with you and I still love you now but I can see that you never felt that way about me. I was just some temporary replacement until your knight in shining armour decides to show up again and you go running into his arms, forgetting everything he put you through!"

"You've got it wrong, Reno!" Tifa wailed, running to him and grabbing his arm. He tried to sake her off but she clung on tight. "Of course I love you. Cloud, Cloud he-"

"Don't lie for me, Tifa," said Reno quietly, having regained his composure but still unable to prevent the tears from running down his face. "Don't try to spare my feelings! I don't want to get in the way… You and Pretty Boy – I mean, you and Cloud were meant for each other. I don't want to stand in the way of that. All I ever wanted was to make you happy, Tifa."

"Cloud's gone!"

It was the first thing that came into Tifa's head but it had the desired effect. Reno was silent and stared down at her with his amazing aquamarine eyes.

"What?"

"He's gone," repeated Tifa. "I asked him to leave. I loved Cloud a long time ago Reno but I love you now and as far as I know I will forever. I love you so very, very much Reno. Please don't leave."

Reno blinked at Tifa and then a slow smile spread across his face. He grabbed Tifa and pulled her into a tight embrace, which she reciprocated gladly. "I – I thought you were going to leave me."

"Never," whispered Tifa into his arms. "Never!"

They stood like that a long time, holding tightly onto each other as if they'd never let go. Eventually, Reno stirred and grinned at her.

"Hey," he said softly as Tifa pulled away to look up at him. "I haven't given you your Valentine's Day present yet."

"I hadn't forgotten. As if I'd let you get away with that!" joked Tifa lightly but she felt a small flutter in her stomach. She had forgotten all about her surprise.

"I'm not sure whether you're going to like it or not, especially after the day's traumas. Feel free to refuse, if you want to but this is something I've wanted to give you for a very long time and today seemed appropriate…" Reno reached inside his jacket pocket and fumbled around a while, swearing quietly as he searched for whatever it was.

Finally, Reno pulled out a small, velvet box and grinned. "This is going to seem really corny," he mumbled apologetically and Tifa was shocked to see him blush slightly. Reno embarrassed?

Slowly, Reno sank down to one knee and opened the little box to reveal a gleaming gold ring set with two diamonds on either side of a glittering ruby. Tifa felt the tears well up in her eyes yet again as she stared down at the beautiful ring he was offering her and she waited for him to say the words she longed to here more than she'd ever thought:

"Tifa Lockheart, will you marry me?"

Tifa nodded through her tears, unable to speak and threw her arms around his neck and pulling his face in to meet hers in a fit of joyful passion, her tears evaporating on his face. "Yes," she whispered in his ear and felt Reno shudder with joy around her. "Yes, of course I will."


End file.
